Thursday, July 21, 2011

My youngest nephew Zack has cheffed since 17. No culinary school, just the kitchen of cast iron knocks and skillet burns. From greasy spoons to polished silver gravy bowls, Chef Zack is working his way through fast food joints and high priced eateries, ever expanding his cooking chops.

For Uncle 99 Cent Chef, 21 year old Chef Zack pulls out a gourmet entree from his Cajun culinary repertoire: Blackened Fish with Sweet Potato Hash, and topped with a Creole Mustard Beurre Blanc Sauce - that's 3 recipes for this post. Of course, once again the recipes call for a lot of butter -- which is a restaurant's little secret in getting repeat customers!

My latest video provides a step-by-step fish blackening technique from this Louisiana chef. Plus, his Mustard Beurre Blanc Sauce, that covers the fish, is killer -- literally so, made with a 1/4 stick of butter and rich whipping cream. Chef Matt would probably sever family ties, but I'll go ahead and recommend you can get away with half the amount of butter, or substitute olive oil. The luscious sauce is sour with mustard, and studded with tiny capers -- but
sweet with whipping cream and Chardonnay. The creamy Bernaises
compliments, and contrasts, the intense Cajun spices that are charred
black, and fused, onto flaky fish fillets.

Chopped Applewood Bacon is added to the deliciously decedent Sweet Potoato Hash. The hash is first quick fried in oil, then fried a second time with bacon fat. And just before plating he mixes in sauteed onions and crispy bacon pieces.

Sweet and savory, I found myself watching closely while I was filming close-ups. I could definitely see myself serving this again soon, although a lighter version with a lot less bacon fat. And I would use regular bacon, too. I picked up a pound of Applewood Bacon for almost $10 -- never again!

Chef Zack blackened a local fish called Redfish, that costs around $8 per pound. For a cheapie version I would substitute three, to four, 4 ounce packages of 99.99 cent firm fish like: Talapia, Rockfish, Cod, Shark, Halibut, or even Salmon. If you have a local catch, then try out Chef Zakk's recipe on it.

Other 99c only Store ingredients I've found recently, listed above, are:
capers, whipping cream, small bottles of white wine, and grainy,
country style Dijon mustard -- which you can use instead of Zakk's
recommended Cajun Mustard.

For the Blackened Fish recipe, Chef Zakk uses Chef Paul Prudhommes Blackened Redfish Magic. I've include a Homemade Blackened Spice Mix at the end of this post. It's cheap and easy to do, so don't worry if your local market doesn't carry it -- I've got your back!

When you watch the Chintzy Chef's video of nephew Zack, you'll see restaurant cooking skills for chopping, sauteing and garnishing. I added a short how-to bonus video of Chef Zakk creating Sliced Lemon Twist and Curled Green Onion garnishes - at the end of this post.

My latest recipe video is a lot of fun, where Chef Zacks' Mom, Granny, and Zakk's roommate, Wesley, all make memorable appearances -- mainly to fork their way into Uncle 99 Cent Chef's plate of Blackened Fish and Sweet Potato Hash, topped with a Creole Mustard Beurre Blanc Sauce!

Blackened Fish with Sweet Potato Hash - Video

Play it here. The video runs 10 minutes.

View or embed from youtube, click here.99 thanks to Mom, Brenda, Chef Zakk and his roomates.

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Hash

1 whole sweet potato - peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

2 cups to water with ice - for chilling cubed sweet potatoes.

1/2 pound (package) bacon - chopped

1 whole yellow onion chopped

Ingredients for Creole Mustard Beurre Blanc

1-2 shallots - about 2 tablespoons minced.

4 cloves garlic - about 1 1/2 tablespoons minced

1/4 stick of butter - or 1 tablespoon favorite oil.

1/4 cup of white wine - Chef Zakk used Chardonnay

1 tablespoon of capers - drained and roughly chopped.

2 tablespoons of Creole Mustard - okay to use grainy country style mustard.

While bacon is cooking chop one whole onion. When bacon is browned remove it. Add chopped onion to about 1/4 cup of the bacon grease. Caramelize onions over a low heat - careful not to burn them, about 15 minutes. When done, set aside.

Drain cubed sweet potatoes. In a pot, heat 1/2 cup of veggie oil to a medium/hight heat. Drain sweet potatoes and carefully add to hot oil. Okay to fry in batches. It's a quick minute and a half fry. You will finish cooking the hash, with onion and bacon, later. Remove and set aside on paper towels to drain.

Mix in 2 heaping tablespoons on Creole Mustard (or grainy, country style mustard). Whisk in 1/2 cup of cream. Reduce heat to low. Just before plating you will add tablespoon of butter, mixing well (optional.)

Directions for Blackened Fish
First check fish fillets and remove any bones or any scale pieces. On a plate sprinkle on 1/4 cup of Blackened Fish Spice. Cover plate so fish fillets will get a complete coat. Go to end of post for my Homemade Blackened Mix.

Moisten fish with a quick rinse of water, so blackened spices will stick. Take fish fillets and lay onto plate of spice. You only need to well coat one side of each fish fillet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add one tablespoon of veggie oil to a medium/high heated pan. When oil is hot add fish fillets to pan - spiced side down. Cook 3-5 minutes, depending on thickness of fillet, and heat of frying pan. If fillets are too large then blacken one at a time.

When edges of fish start to turn white/grey then lift fish -- the cooked side should be charred brown to black. Flip fillet over.

Deglaze pan with 2 tablespoons of white wine. Wine may splatter, so be careful. Shake pan to loosen tasty bits, and put the pan in the oven. If your saute pan is not ovenproof, then put fish, with wine sauce, into an uncovered, ovenproof dish or pan.

It only takes another 5 minutes of baking -- as you bring all the parts together. You can also just leave blackened fish in the pan, over a low heat, on the stove top.

*Homemade Blackened Spice is simple to make. If you have a jar of generic Cajun spices, pour out a 1/4 cup, and stir in a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs, like: oregano, basil and thyme. Mix well.

To make a dry Cajun Blackened Spice Blend from scratch: 2 tablespoons each of garlic and onion powder, paprika, black pepper, plus a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and ceyenne pepper. Add teaspoon of dried Italian herbs. Stir until well mixed.

Wow, the fish turned out looking really tasty. Your directions and comments were so in depth and the pictures helped immensely. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I recently started eating fresh foods like this instead of buying the packaged stuff. I found that it spoils much faster than packaged foods, so for those of you who (like me) dont know how long a food lasts for you should check out http://www.eatbydate.com . It is a food storage and shelf life information website. For example, fresh fish lasts for 1-2 days past the sell by date!

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I take the
haute out of cuisine, developing tasty recipes that anyone can afford to
make. I use food ingredients for my recipes that cost around 99 cents each, or 99
cents per pound. I create yummy photos, fun GIFS, and
clever videos with a food theme.